


And For Only One Moment, Only One Person Mattered

by MrKrabsLovesYuriAnime



Category: As Told By Ginger
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Introspection, Popularity, Secret Relationship, almost canon compliant but not quite, brief vague mentions of homophobia, no one proofread this and it is structured in kind of a weird way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28413951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrKrabsLovesYuriAnime/pseuds/MrKrabsLovesYuriAnime
Summary: Stream of consciousness nonsense fluff/angst involving a crack pairing from a random Nicktoons show, I guess that's how we're kicking off this account I guess.
Relationships: Dodie Bishop/Courtney Gripling, brief mentions of various one-sided crushes
Kudos: 1





	And For Only One Moment, Only One Person Mattered

"I'm just glad Ginger and Macie didn't really bring it up again after about a week or so. Really, I don't know what came over me." Dodie leaned back, playing with the cord of the landline phone as she waited for her toenails to dry.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure why your friends stayed after all the nonsense you've tried to pull on them," Courtney replied from the other end.

"I could say the same for you, Courtney. You know Miranda's, like, suuuuuper controlling over who you talk to."

"Aw, but that's different. She only gets like that because she wants the best for me and my reputation. Or maybe she just likes me and wants to keep me all to herself- I mean, not that I'd be interested in that way, but I'd be suuuuuper flattered if that were the case." Courtney was glad that this call was audio-only, she wouldn't want Dodie to see the warm smile on her face or how warm her cheeks were when she talked about something as silly as a girl possibly having feelings for her.

Dodie could tell, though, by the strange change to Courtney's tone of voice, that Courtney probably was smiling a little too much when she was talking. Dodie thought it was kind of cute, but pretended not to notice just because it really was kind of an awkward time to get giddy. Who gets all blushy after being told their best friend is a control freak who pushes everyone else away??

A jealous control freak. Who tries to push people that their best friend loves away. Dodie felt a pang of guilt. Why DID it bother Dodie so much that Ginger and Darren were dating now? Courtney was right when she said the other day that that was kind of weird and "people would talk" if Dodie made that jealousy over Ginger too obvious.

Courtney was very good at noticing problems in other people's friendships and relationships even if she was totally oblivious to her own issues. Dodie found that endearing in a messed-up pathetic kind of way. Dodie still admired her and thought she was cool, who DIDN'T think Courtney was the coolest and most charming girl in school? If anything, Courtney knew how to make being awkward seem cute instead of... Well, awkward.

"Wait, Courtney, I thought your idea of love was just trailing after whichever boy would get you the most attention from others."

"W-Well, OBVIOUSLY. The whole point of having a boyfriend is so you can say 'At least I have a boyfriend unlike you' any time some other girl tries to call you a loser. A cute boy is just an accessory you can show off to your girls, like a purse or a horribly malformed small dog."

"That's a pretty cynical way of looking at it."

"I don't see what's so cynical about it, really. That's just the way our world works and we all have to get used to it, isn't that right?"

\---

About a year later. Maybe more, maybe less. High school had begun for the girls, Courtney was kind of floundering now that no one was really impressed by her money anymore, there was that whole thing with Dodie pretending to be injured to get the cheer squad to pity her, Ginger and Darren broke up... Courtney's family had lost all their money, so, the kids who weren't all that impressed with her as a person but still clung to her just because they liked hanging out at her big fancy house and eating expensive snacks stopped hanging out with her too.

Dodie wasn't really expecting to get a call from Courtney, Courtney didn't call often. The last time they spoke at any length was near the end of middle school. It was even more unexpected to hear Courtney's undignified sobbing and sniffling on the other end as soon as she picked up.

"Dodie, I've made a huge- Dodie I've made a really big mistake." Courtney sounded so desperate that it frightened Dodie.

"Courtney, girl, are you alright? Who hurt you? Tell me his name and I'll go get him." Despite how cold Dodie had become, no one could remain unmoved when someone they used to look up to and thought was cool is suddenly in need of help. And plus, Dodie just wanted an excuse to take out her anger on some random guy, someone to embarrass and mess with.

"No, it's not about some boy. If it was, I'd be more angry than sad. It actually- Well, it'd take a long time to explain. I want you to stay quiet and not jump to any conclusions until I finish my story, okay?"

This admittedly frightened Dodie even more, but she had to stay on the line, for Courtney's sake. What if Courtney's life was in danger? She sounded like she had a gun to her head or something. "Alright, girl, lay it on me. I can take it," Dodie said, in spite of feeling like she probably couldn't take the pressure.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but usually these days people know me less as the most popular and affluent girl in school Courtney Gripling, but as that bratty annoying girl who's socially awkward and can't read a room and talks like a little baby. That kid who keeps getting picked on by all the upperclassmen in spite of her perfect hair and good looks. That girl who boys play pranks on and call stupid. People really pull the "Hey, my friend has a crush on you" prank on ME! Me of all people. I thought people only did that to ugly girls. Am I really that awkward? Did people really only like me for my money or my house?"

Dodie felt a little guilty for agreeing that Courtney was awkward. But even though she hated seeing Courtney get bullied, it was rare for Dodie to do anything about it. Dodie pitied Courtney for this treatment, but at the same time didn't want to get on the upperclassmen's bad side when she so desperately wanted the older girls to think she was cool and invite her to more stuff. She got invited to a party or two already!

"And... Miranda had been talking to me less often. Hanging out with Mipsy more than me. There's so many times where they said they were gonna invite me somewhere but then went somewhere else or rescheduled without me. Times they'd lie to me just to see my reaction and then laugh at me. I felt ignored. But then I went and did something that made it all worse and I don't think I can take it back. I actually tried to confront Miranda about it, blurted out a bunch of stuff about how she used to worry so much about who I was talking to, how she used to get so mad at me whenever I talked about Ginger, how she used to cling to me so much in middle school, and... How much I missed that. How I thought it meant she loved me in some way. I told her I loved her, Dodie. And I meant it. Every time she's ever made me cry, I just took it as proof that I cared about her too much and- Oh, I probably sound like a weirdo or something. Well, anyways, she just punched me in the shoulder and ran away and now she's not answering my calls and ignoring me in public. Neither of us have really brought it up to anyone else- Or, at least I hope Miranda didn't say anything. If she did I'm done for."

"Courtney..."

"I don't know why I'm telling you any of this. It's not like we've spoken in a long time. I might not know how to read a room but even I know that this is weird. I just didn't know who else to call. And besides, if I called Ginger about this she might get the wrong idea about why I'm calling."

"I'm not sure what you expect me to do." If it was a boy rejecting Courtney, Dodie probably would have gotten her friends to pick on him for it. But Dodie wasn't really sure what to do about a girl rejecting Courtney. Miranda and Courtney both were probably way too embarrassed to draw attention to this. Dodie even remembered overhearing someone ask Miranda why she hadn't spoken to Courtney in a week and Miranda just gave a vague non-answer.

"I'm sorry I called."

"No, no, it's fine, Courtney. I'm here for you, even if I don't know what to say. I didn't know you felt like this."

"I'd ask for a hug, but after how I acted this week, you probably wouldn't want a hug from a weirdo like me."

"How COULD you hug me? This is a phone call, we're not talking in person." Dodie responded matter-of-factly.

"Oh. How... Silly of me." Courtney held the cushion in her arm a little tighter.

"I know it's a bad time to ask, but is it okay if I ask kind of a weird question?"

"...Go ahead. I'm probably only more willing to talk because I'm so lonely though."

"Did you, like, have a crush on Ginger too or something?"

Dodie heard a lot of rustling, almost as if Courtney dropped her phone or something, and then Courtney picked up her phone again to give a weak little "Mmm-hmm."

"Well, that explains a couple of things."

"Ugh, you must hate me now. You're probably going to tell all your friends what a gay loser I am."

"Honestly the main reason I'm not gonna say anything is because I probably had a crush on her back then too. You kind of hit the nail on the head when you guessed it. If I tried to make you look like a weirdo, I'd be making myself look like a hypocrite if anyone ever found out about me."

"Everyone would probably have an absolute field day if they found out. I used to think it was cute that everyone was jealous of me, I thought it was flattering, but that just means everyone got an absolute thrill out of seeing me taken down a peg."

"Jealousy's a pretty wicked feeling, isn't it? I mean, it's my motivation for most of the things I do, even if I'm pretty good at hiding it. I'm spiteful. It's a pretty powerful motivator for success, but Lord help you if you're on the receiving end of someone's spite, yknow what I mean? Not that I think about it the other way around that often."

"I don't know why I'm so drawn to people like you, really, I don't. You and Miranda only thought I was cool as a kid because I had money and I was cute and you wished you were as amazing as moi. Not that anyone calls me cute anymore, which is weird because I still very much am the cutest girl in the world who deserves to be called beautiful at least 5 times an hour."

"I still think you're cute, I don't get why everyone keeps dunking on you or making fun of your eyes. They're really pretty."

"Wait, who was making fun of my- Nevermind."

Dodie realized it was kind of a bad move to remind her how much other people didn't like her and decided to butter her up a little to try to correct the issue. "Yeah, I've always been really jealous of your beautiful hands, too. Mine are dry as heck no matter how hard I try to fix it."

"Why thank you! I used to be a hand model for a magazine, you know. I'd offer to give you some of my hand cream, but I'm almost out of it and can't really afford to replace it at this time."

They spent some time in awkward silence before Courtney decided to say something again.

"You know, Dodie, the only person who wasn't either intimidated by me or jealous of me as a kid was Ginger. She thoroughly saw me as ordinary and uninteresting. She... Was so unlike any girl I'd ever been friends with. So unlike the kind of girl I usually WANTED to be friends with. She was just sweet and interesting and really fun to hang out with. And plus, I thought it was cute to see Miranda get mad that I liked her. Though, I was waaaay off when I assumed that was because Miranda liked me or anything. I think, if anything, Miranda was grossed out or embarrassed to see me talking about Ginger so much."

"Ginger was my best friend since I was little. I can't really imagine not having her around, or not being the most important part of her life. I really took being her best friend for granted, and she probably resents me for how I've acted in the past 2 years. But at the same time, I don't really regret trying to be more popular. There's a lot of security in knowing there's a huge crowd of adoring fans willing to back you up if someone tries to mess with you. Having a lot of people who only know the good side of you is a lot less scary than only having a few close friends who have seen too much of your bad side."

"Having a lot of followers just means more people who have their eyes on you waiting for you to stumble so they can gawk at you. And... I kind of wish I had a friend who was close enough to me to see my good and bad moments and still stick by me through that. I want something more intimate."

"Do you mean intimate, like-" Dodie nervously asked, worried yet a little bit excited at the idea of Courtney wanting to be closer to someone.

"No, no, not really, I don't know what I want out of a friend now that I think of it."

"If I wasn't worried about what my friends would think, I probably would have taken you out for ice cream or held your hand or something. You're really pretty and cute, even your awkward moments have always been endearing to me. But, like you said, dating really is supposed to be something you do to impress others and gain reputation. I don't think either of us would benefit from anyone seeing us together."

"That would have been nice, Dodie."

Courtney cried herself to sleep.

\---

They called each other about every Friday after that. Talking about very ordinary things, like food or studies or makeup or drama that didn't involve the two of them in the slightest. They'd joke about what it'd be like to date each other, and then they'd just make themselves sad worrying too much about the reality of the situation.

Dodie was beginning to grow bored of her cooler, more popular friends, they weren't nearly as funny or cute as Courtney, but she still chose to spend way more time with them than with Courtney. Some people you really only hang out with because you're scared of what they'd do to you if they didn't like you and not because you actually enjoy their company.

Sometimes they'd spend the weekend together, usually Ginger and Macie would tag along. Despite how distant Dodie felt from those two in her heart, and despite the awkwardness from all sides, they still felt a deep loyalty to each other that only childhood friends could feel, or at least Dodie felt as if only childhood friends could. Dodie figured that by now they'd forgiven her for most of the things they got mad at her for before, and she herself was the only one left with that guilt. Maybe there was a part of Dodie that wished her friends hated her more.

She didn't know Courtney as long, compared to the others. But even though it still seemed as if she had only just met Courtney, it had been at least 3 or 4 years since she'd entered Dodie's life. Since when had it been so long?

There were days where Ginger and Macie weren't there, and those days kind of felt relieving in a weird sort of way. Dodie and Courtney didn't have to be reminded of their embarrassing crushes from the past, now the two of them really had only one embarrassing crush to worry about.

In those rare moments where Courtney tried to place her hand over Dodie's, in those moments where Courtney kissed Dodie on the cheek and then tried to play it off as a joke, Dodie wondered if there was a kind of love so pure and honest that the world around and other people didn't even matter for just one minute. Dodie didn't care if she never heard anyone else's voice ever again.


End file.
